Acoustic emission sensors are applied in various industries to monitor an operational status of a device (e.g., a valve or other process control device) to which an acoustic emission sensor is coupled. In these applications, it is important to know whether the acoustic emission sensor is functioning properly and acoustically coupled to the monitored device to ensure that the measurements from the acoustic emission sensor are precise and/or accurate. One known method of testing the functionality of an acoustic emission sensor referred to as a pencil lead break test involves an operator or technician breaking lead from a mechanical pencil adjacent the acoustic emission sensor. Another known test involves using piezoelectric sensors in reciprocity mode (i.e., using the piezoelectric sensors as pulse emitters instead of receivers). However, these known tests do not meet the reproducibility and/or practical implementation requirements needed to properly assess the acoustic emission sensor and can cause an operator or technician to improperly assess the functionality of the acoustic emission sensor.